| | Event type
Solo, Women
| Date | 26 – 30 September 1988 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Su-yeong-jang, Ol-lim-pik Gong-won, Seoul |
| Participants | 46 from 18 countries |
After winning this event in 1984, Tracie Ruiz had retired from the sport, taken up bodybuilding, and married former Penn State football player Mike Conforto. She returned to synchronized swimming in 1986 and won the Pan-American Games in 1987, defending her 1983 gold medal. Ruiz-Conforto did not compete at the 1986 World Championships, won in her absence by Carolyn Waldo, who had won the 1984 Olympic silver behind Ruiz-Conforto, and in 1986 won the triple at the Worlds – winning solo, duet and group gold medals. Waldo had not competed against Ruiz-Conforto at the 1987 Pan-Ams. They met for the first time since the 1984 Olympics at a pre-Olympic meet in Seoul in June, and Ruiz-Conforto won. But in Seoul, Waldo built up an insurmountable lead in the preliminary round, which carried over to the final, and Ruiz-Conforto could not overcome this in the final, as Waldo won the gold medal.
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Figures | Qualifying | Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carolyn Waldo |  CAN | 101.150 (1) | 199.350 (1) | 200.150 (1) | Gold | ||
| 2 | Tracie Ruiz-Conforto |  USA | 98.633 (2) | 197.033 (2) | 197.633 (2) | Silver | ||
| 3 | Mikako Kotani |  JPN | 94.250 (6) | 191.250 (3) | 191.850 (3) | Bronze | ||
| 4 | Muriel Hermine |  FRA | 93.500 (7) | 189.100 (4) | 190.100 (4) | |||
| 5 | Karin Singer |  SUI | 90.600 (10) | 185.000 (5) | 185.600 (5) | |||
| 6 | Nicola Shearn |  GBR | 88.733 (13) | 181.333 (6) | 181.933 (6) | |||
| 7 | Krist'ine Palasinidi |  URS | 87.050 (18) | 180.650 (7) | 180.650 (7) | |||
| 8 | Gerlind Scheller |  FRG | 85.583 (19) | 174.183 (8) | 175.983 (8) | |||
| 9 | Marie Jacobsson |  SWE | 84.800 (20) | 172.800 (9) | – | |||
| 10 | Lourdes Candini |  MEX | 84.533 (23) | 172.533 (10) | – | |||
| 11 | Zhang Ying |  CHN | 81.150 (34) | 170.750 (11) | – | |||
| 12 | Ha Su-Gyeong |  KOR | 80.750 (35) | 169.950 (12) | – | |||
| 13 | María Elena Giusti |  VEN | 83.733 (26) | 169.333 (13) | – | |||
| 14 | Eva López |  ESP | 78.983 (39) | 167.383 (14) | – | |||
| 15 | Paula Carvalho |  BRA | 82.517 (30) | 166.317 (15) | – | |||
| 16 | Lisa Lieschke |  AUS | 80.433 (=36) | 165.633 (16) | – | |||
| 17 | Patricia Serneels |  BEL | 78.750 (41) | 164.550 (17) | – | |||
| 18 | Roswitha Lopez |  ARU | 70.483 (45) | 150.683 (18) | – | |||
| AC r1/3 | Yvette Thuis | ARU | 74.266 (43) | – | – | DNQ | ||
| AC r1/3 | Semon Rohloff | AUS | 78.850 (40) | – | – | DNQ | ||
| AC r1/3 | Érika McDavid | BRA | 84.733 (=21) | – | – | DNQ | ||
| AC r1/3 | Eva Riera | BRA | 82.117 (31) | – | – | DNQ | ||
| AC r1/3 | Michelle Cameron | CAN | 96.683 (5) | – | – | DNQ | ||
| AC r1/3 | Karin Larsen | CAN | 92.250 (8) | – | – | DNQ | ||
| AC r1/3 | Luo Xi | CHN | 81.883 (33) | – | – | DNQ | ||
| AC r1/3 | Tan Min | CHN | 83.600 (28) | – | – | DNQ | ||
| AC r1/3 | Marta Amorós | ESP | 74.100 (44) | – | – | DNQ | ||
| AC r1/3 | Núria Ayala | ESP | 75.967 (42) | – | – | DNQ | ||
| AC r1/3 | Anne Capron | FRA | 88.133 (15) | – | – | DNQ | ||
| AC r1/3 | Karine Schuler | FRA | 89.050 (12) | – | – | DNQ | ||
| AC r1/3 | Doris Eisenhofer | FRG | 80.433 (=36) | – | – | DNQ | ||
| AC r1/3 | Heike Friedrich | FRG | 82.000 (32) | – | – | DNQ | ||
| AC r1/3 | Lian Goodwin | GBR | 83.817 (25) | – | – | DNQ | ||
| AC r1/3 | Megumi Ito | JPN | 88.517 (14) | – | – | DNQ | ||
| AC r1/3 | Miyako Tanaka | JPN | 91.267 (9) | – | – | DNQ | ||
| AC r1/3 | Choi Jeong-Yun | KOR | 79.150 (38) | – | – | DNQ | ||
| AC r1/3 | Kim Mi-Jin-Su | KOR | 83.650 (27) | – | – | DNQ | ||
| AC r1/3 | Susana Candini | MEX | 83.067 (29) | – | – | DNQ | ||
| AC r1/3 | Sonia Cárdenas | MEX | 84.733 (=21) | – | – | DNQ | ||
| AC r1/3 | Edith Boss | SUI | 87.300 (17) | – | – | DNQ | ||
| AC r1/3 | Claudia Peczinka | SUI | 84.067 (24) | – | – | DNQ | ||
| AC r1/3 | Mariya Chernyayeva | URS | 88.000 (16) | – | – | DNQ | ||
| AC r1/3 | Tatyana Titova | URS | 89.333 (11) | – | – | DNQ | ||
| AC r1/3 | Karen Josephson | USA | 97.367 (4) | – | – | DNQ | ||
| AC r1/3 | Sarah Josephson | USA | 98.000 (3) | – | – | DNQ | ||
| AC r1/3 | Joanne Seeburg | GBR | – ( | – | – | DNF |
Figures
| Date | 28 September 1988 — 8:30 |
|---|---|
| Format | The technical figure competition served as a qualifying round for the solo and duet event. The top 18, one per nation, from the technical figures advanced to the qualifying round of the solo event. The figure scores counted towards the qualifying and the final score. |
Qualifying Round
| Date | 26 September 1988 — 20:00 |
|---|---|
| Format | Top eight advanced to the final, based on score from the musical routine and technical figure round. |
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Points | Musical Routine Points | Figure Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carolyn Waldo | CAN | 199.350 | 98.20 | 101.150 | ||
| 2 | Tracie Ruiz-Conforto | USA | 197.033 | 98.40 | 98.633 | ||
| 3 | Mikako Kotani | JPN | 191.250 | 97.00 | 94.250 | ||
| 4 | Muriel Hermine | FRA | 189.100 | 95.60 | 93.500 | ||
| 5 | Karin Singer | SUI | 185.000 | 94.40 | 90.600 | ||
| 6 | Nicola Shearn | GBR | 181.333 | 92.60 | 88.733 | ||
| 7 | Krist'ine Palasinidi | URS | 180.650 | 93.60 | 87.050 | ||
| 8 | Gerlind Scheller | FRG | 174.183 | 88.60 | 85.583 | ||
| 9 | Marie Jacobsson | SWE | 172.800 | 88.00 | 84.800 | ||
| 10 | Lourdes Candini | MEX | 172.533 | 88.00 | 84.533 | ||
| 11 | Zhang Ying | CHN | 170.750 | 89.60 | 81.150 | ||
| 12 | Ha Su-Gyeong | KOR | 169.950 | 89.20 | 80.750 | ||
| 13 | María Elena Giusti | VEN | 169.333 | 85.60 | 83.733 | ||
| 14 | Eva López | ESP | 167.383 | 88.40 | 78.983 | ||
| 15 | Paula Carvalho | BRA | 166.317 | 83.80 | 82.517 | ||
| 16 | Lisa Lieschke | AUS | 165.633 | 85.20 | 80.433 | ||
| 17 | Patricia Serneels | BEL | 164.550 | 85.80 | 78.750 | ||
| 18 | Roswitha Lopez | ARU | 150.683 | 80.20 | 70.483 |
Final
| Date | 30 September 1988 — 9:30 |
|---|---|
| Format | Score composed of scores from the musical routine and technical figure round. |
| Pos | Competitor | NOC | Points | Musical Routine Points | Figure Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carolyn Waldo | CAN | 200.150 | 99.00 | 101.150 | ||
| 2 | Tracie Ruiz-Conforto | USA | 197.633 | 99.00 | 98.633 | ||
| 3 | Mikako Kotani | JPN | 191.850 | 97.60 | 94.250 | ||
| 4 | Muriel Hermine | FRA | 190.100 | 96.60 | 93.500 | ||
| 5 | Karin Singer | SUI | 185.600 | 95.00 | 90.600 | ||
| 6 | Nicola Shearn | GBR | 181.933 | 93.20 | 88.733 | ||
| 7 | Krist'ine Palasinidi | URS | 180.650 | 93.60 | 87.050 | ||
| 8 | Gerlind Scheller | FRG | 175.983 | 90.40 | 85.583 |